West Vancouver Beaches Not Safe For Swimmers: Advisory

VANCOUVER - Warnings have been posted at three Metro Vancouver beaches advising swimmers to stay out of the water.

Vancouver Coastal Health has issued "no swimming" advisories for the Ambleside, Dundarave and Sandy Cove beaches along West Vancouver's English Bay waterfront.

Those beaches have E. coli levels above the maximum allowable guideline of 200 bacteria per 100 millilitres of water, meaning the seawater could pose health or infection risks, especially if swimmers swallow it.

High levels of bacteria are blamed on fecal contamination from human or animal sources.

The warning to swimmers will likely remain posted at least until results from the next regular water sampling are released later this week.

Health officials say the waters of False Creek East, near Vancouver's downtown core, off Science World, have a bacteria count of 500, but an advisory has not been posted there because the rocky and steep shoreline is not considered a swimming or bathing beach.